I'm having a hard time gathering my thoughts about this years Zenfest. Maybe because I had to leave early. I didn't get to listen to the whole product line, or the mix and matches my fellow attendees put together.

Julie and I arrived early Saturday. People were sleeping in the listening room. We spent some time with DeVon and a couple of earlier risers. Met the new cat, a very handsome and friendly Bengal. Everybody else eventually got up and left for breakfast. The listening room was mine!

I am one of those people who can tell right away about a piece of equipment. Give me a few seconds, and I know if I like it; give me a couple of minutes, and I can identify strengths and weaknesses of most systems. After that I either sit back and enjoy the music or go into audio shutdown.

I started with the mini-torii, the radials, and then changed amps to what has become my Decware fave amp, the good old SE84C+. I now prefer it to the mini which kind of surprised me. A caveat here though, I had a preamp in the system. I brought Buzz' Greenvalve Grounded Grid amp with me for show and tell.... Since it was plugged in early, few got to hear it. Grids & 84C's just simply 'love' each other and form a synergistic amplification chain that has tone and image and depth that few systems match.

The Radials remain my favorite Decware speaker. They are room friendly, meaning that you would have to search pretty hard to find a listening room they wouldn't work well in. (Since I design custom, usually one pair off, loudspeakers, I've grown quite picky, perhaps jaded, about speakers. I don't like many, so the radials join a group where many high end designs fail to make the grade.)

A revelation for me, was the Torii. Steve switched from EL34 output tubes to, correct me if I get this wrong, JJ 6CA7 tubes. I thought this brought an improvement. Steve and I both tend to prefer a neutral voicing. I noticed a stronger bass, and a just a bit crisper highs. Well done.

There is a lot more to comment on. I hope the rest of the attendees type a few lines about the fest. Remember in this shrinking economy, we need to support those companies that go out of their way to build good products and personal attention to their clients.

Lastly, thanks to the entire Decware clan, I always enjoy my visit. Thanks to my fellow attendees. I learned new things from you too. I'll add more later.

Whatever. There is a thread about these tubes already. Just interjecting something I thought was interesting, and about tubes I spent a week or so analyzing, not a few minutes. I'll leave you to your thread. Sorry to be considered intrusive. I didn't realize you could comment about them and I was not allowed. . .

That's not what I want. I just didn't feel you needed to "moderate" or direct my activity. Nor do I need to moderate yours. It was a reaction to what seemed to me your "bossiness." I can see that it wasn't.

Lon,No apology needed. Sometimes I explain things way too abruptly. I really hate to type, and I hate misspelled words in my messages. Therefore, I don't always explain myself as well as I should. Sometimes people take it the wrong way. I should have written that for the first time ever I liked what I heard out of the Torii. Steve Deckert and I had a short conversation about the tube set. Since I don't know enough about tube operating points, I forgot to ask if he made any small changes to the most recent run of amps. I really think that bears further discussion. Of course current Torii owners such as yourself would and should comment. I just didn't want to hijack my own thread, like I just did. :). I've been reading a bit about tube operating points, transformer windings, etc and as a guy who has never built an amp other than a kit, I have a lot to learn. Heck, there are manufacturers of tube amps who aren't experts. I would love to get into a discussion about what to look for in tube choices, matching, and loading. That's what I was thinking about when Isaid it should go in a different thread. I really want to support Steve and also the beautiful cabinetry of Bob. I was trying to talk more about equipment impressions from the Zenfest. They have been working hard at getting good product out. I can only think ot a handful of audio companies tha really care about their customers enough that they want them to be happy with their purchases, and also enjoy this audio hobby even if they buy from someone else. I enjoy writing and reading what my friends here have to say. One of the things I enjoy most about Zenfest is watching everyone and how they approach listening to the gear. Censorship from me? Never. We are all friends here.

Thanks for the message Steve. Regarding the JJs, C. E. put forth a theorem that perhaps the newer amps are somehow voiced by Steve to better suit the JJs, while his and mine are Winged C voiced. That might have been put to the test by a talk about operating points. But anyway, the JJs are great tubes, but when I use my reference material (recordings I made in my then garage apartment of two bands I was in in the late 'eighties) the JJs seem on the warmer side of neutral in comparison to the Winged Cs. I sure didn't want that to be the case, as they're a considerably cheaper option at this time, Winged Cs get more and more expensive.

Glad to hear that you really enjoyed the Torii listening experience. I've been listening to all the Decware amps in my house (sort of a private DecFest on a much smaller scale without the good food!) and the Torii just keeps impressing me. As do the ERRs. A killer combo I probably will never surgically remove myself from.